Towel rack installation



C- D- BAKER TOWEL RACK INSTALLATION Nov. 21, 1967 Filed Nov. 19, 1965'nwsmon f/0rd D. Ba/ er BY M X ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,353,779TOWEL RACK INSTALLATION Ciifiord D. Baker, 269 Howard St., Ventura,Calif. 93003 Filed Nov. 19, 1965, Ser. No. 508,788 4 Claims. (Cl.248-251) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A wall-mounted towel rack consistingof a bar and two mounting brackets at the ends of the bar, one of thebrackets having a special right-angled form to fit into a Wall corner sothat it may be firmly held in place by fasteners driven into a wall studat the corner.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in towel rackinstallations, and in particular the invention concerns itself withtowel racks which are mounted by fasteners such as screws on buildingwalls of plaster or plaster-like material.

Such walls are usually supported by horizontally spaced, vertical studswhich, of course, are hidden from view, so that when a towel rack is tobe mounted on the wall, it is not an easy matter to find the location ofthe studs in order that the rack mounting screws may be driven thereintofor proper and sturdy support. As a result, the rack mounting screws inmost instances take hold in the plaster wall only, and since the wall isrelatively thin and of a crumbly character, the screws usually passthrough the wall thickness and are easily pulled out, especially underthe weight and strain of a towel being placed on or removed from therack.

It is, therefore, the principal object of the invention to provide animproved towel rack installation which assures that at least one end ofthe rack is firmly supported by studding, so that the rack is thus ableto properly sustain itself in position even if its relatively oppositeend is held by screws which engage the wall only.

This object is achieved by the provision of a special towel rack bracketwhich is particularly adapted for installation in a corner where tworight-angularly disposed walls come together and where studding isinvariably provided, so that assurance is had that the mounting screwsof the special bracket penetrate into the studding and firmly hold thebracket in place.

As such, the special bracket of the invention is simple in construction,economical to manufacture, easy to install, and capable of use insubstitution for either one of the two customary brackets commonlyprovided in a conventional towel rack.

With the foregoing more important object and features in view and suchother objects and features as may become apparent as this specificationproceeds, the invention will be understood from the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, whereinlike characters of reference are used to designate like parts, andwherein:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional View of a wall corner,showing in plan the installed towel; rack;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged isometric view of the special corner bracket;

FIGURE 3 is an elevational view of the bracket; and

FIGURE 4 is a plan view thereof, partly in section.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in details, tworight-angularly disposed building walls 10, 11 of plaster orplaster-like material are shown in FIG. 1 as meeting at a corner 12. Thewalls are supported by horizontally spaced, vertical studs 13, 13, 14,and as a matter of proper building construction, at least one of3,353,779 Patented Nov. 21, 1967 such studs is always disposed at thecorner 12, as for example the stud 14.

The towel rack fixture designated generally by the numeral 15 includes atowel supporting bar 16, the ends of which are carried by a pair of wallmounted brackets, one of which appears at 17. The bracket 17 is aconventional bracket disposed at one end of the bar 16, but insubstitution for another like bracket at the other end of the bar, theinvention provides a special corner bracket 18. The special cornerbracket 18 may be made of metal, plastic, ceramic or any other suitablematerial, and is particularly intended for installation in the corner 12against the walls 10 and 11, so that it may be firmly secured ashereinafter described, to one of the corner studs, for example the stud14. As such, the bracket 18 includes a right-angularly shaped mountingportion 19 which fits against the Walls 10, 11 in the corner 12, theportion 19 preferably being bevelled at the corner thereof as indicatedat 20 so as to afford a clearance in instances where the wall corner 12may be somewhat rounded rather than truly square.

A horizontally extending arm 21 is formed integrally with the mountingportion 19 of the bracket, the arm being substantially L-shaped in plan,so that it is joined to both sides or wings of the right-angularlyshaped mounting portion 19, as will be clearly apparent. The free end ofthe arm 21 is formed with a socket 22 to receive one end of theaforementioned towel supporting bar 16, the other end of which isretained in a similar socket provided in the conventional bracket 17.

One side or wing of the mounting portion 19 of the bracket 18 isprovided with countersunk apertures 23 for reception of relatively longwood screws 24, these being long enough to pass through the Wall 11 intothe stud 14, as will be apparent from FIG. 1. It is to be noted that bypositioning the bracket 18 in the corner 12 where one or more of thewall studs is always present, assurance is had that the mounting screws24 will penetrate into the wall stud to firmly support the bracket 18 inposition.

The second, conventional bracket 17 may be installed at a selecteddistance from the bracket 18 in accordance with the length of the towelbar 16 and without regard to spacing or location of the studs 13. Thebracket 17 has the usual mounting portion 17' through which screws 25maybe passed into the wall 10. Even if the screws 25 do not enter into astud and are held by the wall only, the firm mounting of the bracket 18at the opposite end of the rack will be sufiicient to properly hold thefixture in place since, with firm mounting at one end, the strain on theopposite end of the fixture will be substantially minimized.

It may be noted that the bracket 18 is readily reversible so that it maybe installed either in the left-hand or the right-hand corner, asdesired.

While in the foregoing there has been described and shown the preferredembodiment of the invention, various modifications may become apparentto those skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Accordingly,it is not desired to limit the invention to this disclosure, and variousmodifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within thespirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A special corner bracket for supporting one end of a towel bar at acorner of two right-angularly disposed building walls, said bracketbeing formed integrally from one piece of material and comprising aright-angular mounting member including first and second vertical wingsconnected together at the corner of the mounting member, said wingshaving outer faces and inner Wall engaging faces, and a substantiallyL-shaped arm member including a rectangular base joined along twoadjacent of its sides to the outer faces of the respective wings, and anarm extending horizontally from said base at right angles to the firstwing and in laterally outwardly spaced relation from the plane of theouter face of the second wing, the outer end portion of said arm beingprovided with a towel bar receiving socket open in a direction away fromthe second wing, and the second wing being provided with apertures forreception of fastener elements.

2. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein said arm member has asmaller vertical dimension than said mounting member with upper andlower surfaces of the arm member being spaced respectively downwardlyand upwardly from upper and lower edges of said wings, said apertures inthe second wing being located above and below the planes of therespective upper and lower surfaces of the arm member.

3. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein said arm member has an outerside edge flush with an outer side References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 295,396 3/1884 Holland 160174 2,147,625 2/1939 Brothers 211942,451,884 10/ 1948 Stelzer 248251 3,009,580 11/1961 Marr 21 1105.13,111,685 11/1963 Longo 4-173 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner. WILLIAMD. LOULAN, Assistant Examiner.

1. A SPECIAL CORNER BRACKET FOR SUPPORTING ONE END OF A TOWEL BAR AT ACORNER OF TWO RIGHT-ANGULARLY DISPOSED BUILDING WALLS, SAID BRACKETBEING FORMED INTEGRALLY FROM ONE PIECE OF MATERIAL AND COMPRISING ARIGHT-ANGULAR MOUNTING MEMBER INCLUDING FIRST AND SECOND VERTICAL WINGSCONNECTED TOGETHER AT THE CORNER OF THE MOUNTING MEMBER, SAID WINGSHAVING OUTER FACES AND INNER WALL ENGAGING FACES, AND A SUBSTANTIALLYL-SHAPED ARM MEMBER INCLUDING A RECTANGULAR BASE JOINED ALONG TWOADJACENT OF ITS SIDES TO THE OUTER FACES OF THE RESPECTIVE WINGS, AND ANARM EXTENDING HORIZONTALLY FROM SAID BASE AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE FIRSTWING AND IN LATERALLY OUTWARDLY SPACED RELATION FROM THE PLANE OF THEOUTER FACE OF THE SECOND WING, THE OUTER END PORTION OF SAID ARM BEINGPROVIDED WITH A TOWEL BAR RECEIVING SOCKET OPEN IN A DIRECTION AWAY FROMTHE SECOND WING, AND THE SECOND WING BEING PROVIDED WITH APERTURES FORRECEPTION OF FASTENER ELEMENTS.